Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you've ever played blind man's buff?

67 replies

scalt · 09/05/2026 12:59

The classic party game in which one player is blindfolded, and tries to find one of the others, who are moving about, and sometimes has to guess who they have found by feel, or hearing them speak in a disguised voice. The game is often referenced in old fiction, as something children would do for a bit of impromptu fun. "Let's play blind man's buff while we wait for supper!"

I think it's become a forgotten game, in this age of safety, or people think of it as belonging to the era of Charles Dickens. When I was recently discussing party games with some people in their thirties, none of them had heard of it. It's probably been banned from playgrounds, like conkers, and British Bulldog.

Did you ever play it? I don't think I did as a child, but I remember playing it as a teenager once, abroad on a school trip, while we had a dull moment outside in the cold, and this was to the bemusement of passing tourists.
YANBU - I played it
YABU - I never played it

OP posts:
Friendlygingercat · 09/05/2026 16:51

Im in my 80s and we played it as kids in the 1950s. Also Musical Chairs, Passing the Parcel, Off Ground Tick, Hospital Tick, Simon Said etc.

Off Ground Tick is a variation of the chasing game where players are safe from being caught ("tagged" or "ticked") if they are not touching the ground. Players climb on objects like benches, low walls, or trees to avoid being made tagger. In Hospital Tick if you are ticked or tagged on a part of your body you have to hold that part and still try to evade the tagger.

Bbq1 · 09/05/2026 16:50

@mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork
I did reply with a long, detailed description of Wink Murder but for some reason it didn't post. I see Op has since explained it and that's basically what I would have said!

HerbertPootle · 09/05/2026 16:38

Yes, played as a child in 80s, was definitely called Blind man’s buff in London. Think it wasn’t so much a party game just a game we played a lot if we had friends round. We also played ‘murder in the dark’ a lot in the winter!

My son just had a sleepover for his birthday and they played Marco Polo which sounded similar.

AgnesMcDoo · 09/05/2026 16:37

Yes and so have my kids

Haffway · 09/05/2026 16:28

Played it with my dc during lockdown using masks as blindfolds.
It was a birthday party favourite when I was a child. Definitely buff, not bluff which was considered an hilarious pronunciation error when we were 5 and 6.

UhOhRatPoo · 09/05/2026 16:27

It is 100% “buff” not bluff. I definitely played it as a child (70s/80s) but I’m not sure I could have told you the rules.

Aparecium · 09/05/2026 16:27

We used to play Blind Man’s Buff (or Bluff, because bluffing was part of the strategy) behind the science block in secondary school. No, this was not an excuse 😉 it was a girls’ school. But there was a very convenient ‘shelf’ about 6ft wide and maybe 1ft high running the length of the passageway, which made an excellent playing track.

British Bulldogs was banned at least twice in my seven years there. Instead we played Fisherman’s Net and Snap the Whip, which were equally dangerous. They may have been our own names for these games, as nobody else seems to have heard of them.

WongLynchFellini · 09/05/2026 16:25

Lates 30s. Played it occasionally as a kid in the 90s but I don’t remember it being like one of the main games you would always play at parties or anything.

Original poster
scalt · 09/05/2026 16:23

@mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork Wink murder (the version which I played): everybody sits in a circle, and is given a slip of paper, one of which is marked with an X; they are the murderer, and keep it a secret. The murderer kills people by winking at them, trying not to let anybody else notice. Anyone who sees a wink aimed at them dies (noisily and graphically, of course!) If somebody still alive believes they know who the murderer is, they can accuse them, and their slip is then checked. The accuser wins the game if they are correct; the murderer wins if three false accusations are made. There is a lot of tension during this game, with everyone watching everyone else's eyes.

I'm glad to know that people still play blind man's buff (which is how I shall continue to spell it). Another game I remember from school was "keeper of the keys": the keeper is blindfolded, sits in the middle of a circle with a bunch of keys beside them, and points in the direction of any sound they hear. Somebody creeps up and tries to steal the keys as silently as they can, without being heard and pointed at. The adults liked this game because it was quiet, like sleeping lions.

@TorroFerney You wouldn't have liked an activity we did at a youth group once: we had a sponsored silence, to raise funds for blind people. Everyone sat in a circle, and those who wanted to take part in the game were blindfolded; those who didn't had to read silently. Those who got bored were allowed to take off their blindfold and read, but those who kept their eyes covered the whole time (I think half an hour) got a prize at the end. I managed this, but I zoned out and fell asleep briefly!

OP posts:
EBearhug · 09/05/2026 15:02

Blind man's buff here, although squeak piggy squeak was more usual, which was very similar.

ThankYouNigel · 09/05/2026 14:51

So funnily enough, I don’t remember playing it, but my two children have started playing it together and think it’s hilarious! So guessing they must be playing it at school or picked it up from a friend’s house or TV or something! 😂

MyOtherProfile · 09/05/2026 14:49

FeliciaFancybottom · 09/05/2026 13:18

Buff means to bump or jostle; buff in slang means physically fit or naked.

Edited

Exactly. Buffing into people because you can't see.

PatNoodle · 09/05/2026 14:00

Everyone confidently correcting the OP but OP is right, it was traditionally blind man’s buff - buff meaning to lightly push or bump someone. It’s easy to google it and see

cardibach · 09/05/2026 13:59

One of my favourite travel memories is of my DD and a group of kids we were travelling with (family group tour) playing this with the tour guide in a Berber house in the Atlas Mountains where there was no phone signal or tv. Ages from 8 to about 16. All having fun. Bit surreal, but a lovely memory.

x2boys · 09/05/2026 13:54

RumJerrySailorRum · 09/05/2026 13:14

Always been Bluff where i'm from......thought it was a rude version you were referring to at first!!!

We also did the hats, scarves and gloves on to cut up a Mars bar!!

We did too but i think it was something like dairy milk that had segments
rather than mars bar!

BiddyPopthe2nd · 09/05/2026 13:53

We used to play it on our annual freshers hostelling trip with a group at Uni. So it wasn’t just for smaller DCs.

AhBiscuits · 09/05/2026 13:49

I played it as a kid.
I also remember when I was 14 and babysitting playing it with the children. The dad came back and joined in and groped my chest and bum.

TorroFerney · 09/05/2026 13:49

I hated it as when blindfolded I used to worry that everyone had left the room and I was just wandering round on my own. Similarly sleeping lions, that it was a joke that I was the butt of and they were all up and doing something in another room. I was quite an anxious and paranoid child !!

Dinggirl · 09/05/2026 13:49

Oh I loved this game, and "squeak piggy squeak" which involved going round blindfolded with a cushion in hand, and plonking it on the nearest lap, sitting on it and guessing who the owner of the lap was by asking them to squeak (or grunt) 😆😆 that may be frowned upon now!

TorroFerney · 09/05/2026 13:47

Itsseweasy · 09/05/2026 13:06

It’s Blind Man’s Bluff not buff!

Samuel Pepys refers to it as Buff in 1664 Google tells me. But it seems to not know why buff is the word.

AmazingGreatAunt · 09/05/2026 13:45

Used to be an absolute standard at children's parties, along with Musical Bumps, Pass the Parcel, Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Musical Statues etc.
Back in the olden days, when you invited 10 to 15 friends to your house for a birthday party.

x2boys · 09/05/2026 13:43

I think i did at birthday parties ,along with musical chairs ,pin the tail on the donkey
And my mums all time favourire to calm the excited children down sleeping lions

mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork · 09/05/2026 13:39

Bbq1 · 09/05/2026 13:25

We played it as a child. Also, wink murder.

Please explain wink murder to me!

mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork · 09/05/2026 13:38

Yes, played it at childrens' parties in 1950s and 60s. We all called it Blindman's Buff (London). Also pass the parcel, danced the hokey-cokey, etc. I think there were treasure hunts in the garden. Also that game when you all run round a line of chairs and when the music stops have to sit down in one fast as there will be one less each round and someone will be "out" each time.The good old days when you didn't have to invite all your classmates (there were 47 in mine) and nearly all parties were at our homes with only birthday child's parents in attendance (all other parents dropped off their child and collected them at the end. Never expected to stay with you once you were school age.) Birthday child got sensibly priced little present from each guest and the guest children went home with a jamboree bag each - anyone remember those? I think they cost about 3d each but not sure.

Notmyreality · 09/05/2026 13:32

Yes played it as a child in the 80s.